Work driving ahead on Novato Narrows widening project

Piles are being driven near the Novato Creek Bridge as part of the work to widen the Marin-Sonoma Highway 101 Narrows, which aims to relieve the bottleneck that frustrates drivers on a daily basis.

Three separate projects in Marin and one in Sonoma County are part of a new round of work on the project. In Marin, two will lengthen the Highway 101 carpool lane in Novato, while the other will see improvements to the Redwood Landfill interchange.

San Rafael-based Ghilotti Bros. Inc. is working to expand the carpool lane southbound from north of Novato Creek to Rowland Boulevard, a little more than half a mile. That work — which includes widening the Novato Creek Bridge at a cost of about $4 million — involves driving the piles.

"Right now people will see these 65-foot piles that are being driven down in order to widen the bridge over Novato Creek," said Dianne Steinhauser, executive director of the Transportation Authority of Marin, noting the freeway is being widened in the median. "It's all going well."

Ghilotti Bros. Inc. crews are also extending the carpool lane northbound from Atherton Avenue to south of the Redwood Landfill, about 1.5 miles in total. That work will cost about $15 million.

Work on the carpool lanes should be done by the end of the year.

"We understand there will be some delays as the work continues, but people will be so happy when the work is completed and it helps alleviates that backup we see," said Marin Supervisor Judy Arnold, who represents Novato.

In addition, work on the Redwood Landfill interchange work is continuing. It includes widening the overpass on Highway 101 and construction of frontage roads in the area. That work will cost $28 million and is being done by Ghilotti Construction Co. of Santa Rosa. It will be completed next year.

In Petaluma, work is under way on the north end of the Narrows project. A $120 million project there will reconstruct the Petaluma Boulevard South interchange, replace the Petaluma River Bridge, widen nearly three miles of frontage roads, provide new pedestrian and bicycle improvements and replace the northbound Highway 116 bridge and widen the southbound Highway 116 bridge to accommodate future carpool lanes on Highway 101.

Even with all the work in the counties, the project is far from finished. The Narrows — so named because the number of lanes on Highway 101 narrow to two in each direction — still has a large portion in the middle that needs to be addressed.

The latest projects represent only the initial phases of a $700 million plan to widen Highway 101. About half of that money has been acquired so far. The entire Narrows project calls for widening the 16-mile stretch of Highway 101 between Highway 37 and the Old Redwood Highway interchange in north Petaluma.